Customer Reviews

Metal Gear Solid

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I got this for my birthday as a gift after wanting it forever. Once I picked up and started to read even within the first few chapters I was greatly disappointed. Two big flaws bothered me throughout the book which were he either changed things (mostly for the worse) or made Snake or other characters say or do things TOTALLY out of character.

In the book when Snake is "sneaking" and by sneaking I mean going Rambo all over the place. He's suppose to slip in unnoticed yet the author has him killing off every guard left and right. Sometimes it seems or a lot of times the author writes Snake going out of his way to kill guards which is totally out of character. Plus some of the cheese ball lines Snake delivers either make me cringe or laugh they are so bad, such as Snake yelling, "Merry Christmas" and then punching both guards in the face, knocking them out. Then having the nerve to write in, "Oh I forgot to mention, Christmas came early this year."

It's very weird, as by the time you get to the tank hangar he's killed like 6 or 7 guards. And when they mention another intruder (aka the cyborg ninja) that did 3 guards and is using stealth, Snake thinks to himself *What, I've killed more than 3 guards must be another guy*, which is poor writing and logic, because they only could have found 3 bodies, it would have been better if he only did one guard in or none.

Another line worth mentioning that is so out of character and just sounds ridiculous is when Snake says to Colonel over codec after meeting Meryl: "Your niece is one wacky babe." Word for word, I groaned...And literally smacked my forehead it was so bad.

The writing I just felt overall wasn't very good or flattering to the subject matter. The way the author describes things was very strange and not very in depth. The way he relates Snake and Liquid's fight on top of REX to a boxing match was just plain bad among others. Also the unnecessary changes like the heliport being inside? Why? What did we gain from that alteration? Or having no catwalks in the REX hangar, or the rex fight not taking place where it did in the game. The way he finds the cigarettes on site instead of smuggling them in in his stomach. Little things like that make me as a huge MGS fan upset. And they overall make the book that much weaker. I'm not sure the author did his homework. The only thing I wanted to do after reading this was to show I could write a better novel.

I recommend steering clear or reading only if you want to see how badly the great story of MGS could be written.

I wanted to slap myself in the forehead most of the time or rewrite what I was reading. As a long time MGS fan I was greatly let down. The only thing good about this book is when you are done with it.

Let me start by saying that I am a fan of the game, but more importantly I'm a massive fan of the story spun in the game's universe. I'll try to be objective about the material though, that way anyone unfamiliar with the Metal Gear franchise won't feel left out.

Metal Gear Solid is your basic story of an underdog against incredible odds. It's a spy story with all the trappings of the genre... add in a bit of the supernatural, and a good dose of idiosyncratic humor and you've got a good idea what you're going in to.

The protagonist, codenamed Solid Snake, is a thirty-three year old life-long soldier living comfortably in secluded retirement until a special operations team comes to break the peace. Snake is quickly brought to a mobile command center on board a sub and told about a group of terrorist led by his former unit (FoxHound).

Foxhound, led by Liquid Snake, has taken over Shadow Moses island. Shadow Moses is a nuclear disposal facility, and a secret base for testing advanced weaponry. Foxhound has nukes, and soon enough they will have the ability to launch them. What do they want? The remains of the world's greatest soldier, a man killed years before by Solid Snake. And that's just the beginning of the labyrinthine plot, and only a gloss over what is REALLY going on.

There are elements of the labors of Hercules as Snake fights his way through the base and the special members of Foxhound. Members like Sniper Wolf, the worlds greatest sniper. Vulcan Raven, a gigantic shaman. Revolver Ocelot, an expert marksman with a taste for six shooters. Psycho Mantis, a telekinetic and telepathic sadist. And Decoy Octopus, the world's greatest master of disguise. There's also a mysterious Cyborg Ninja with ties to Snake's past who may be friend or foe.

To end before I go off on too much of a tangent, the story will keep you riveted as long as you don't mind suspending a little bit of disbelief.

To those who have played the game, and know the story, but still may want this: Get it, the author does great justice to the material, and there are a few inside references that show that he did indeed play the game before sitting down to write.

Literature it isn't, but it's a damn good read to kill a few hours with.

I bought a copy of this book at Borders and I have to say the author did a good job of putting the piece of the video game into a novel together. When you open the book, you will be amazed of Mr. Benson's imagination of what was not included in the game or if Snake encounters a boss. When that happens, the author creates his own image and includes specific details on how the story is laid out. This book will keep your entertained and when I started reading it, I didn't want to put the book down! Benson also changes the dialogue a little bit (probably for copyright reasons) to a more modern one. There is a few swearing in the book that was not mentioned in the game and a lot more insight of the characters. If you are a Metal Gear Solid fan, get this book! Get the second one too when it comes out!

Usually I am not a fan of books based on video games, as they are usually not very great. I bought this, seeing as MGS is my favorite video game series of all time, to see how faithful it was to the actual game. To be honest, this book far exceeded expectations, it seems as though Raymond Benson either played the game, got his hands on the game's script, or watched someone else play it. The book is very accurate, with the exception of a few parts which needed to be changed, such as the Psycho Mantis fight (that would have been a good laugh if he hadn't written something new for that part.)
As I read the book, I remembered playing every part I read, which made it more fun for me to read. I also could not put this book down, which is uncharacteristic for me as I usually hate reading.
For someone who hasn't played the game, or knows little to nothing in the MGS universe, I can't say how much you'll enjoy it; its hard to gauge how good it would be having previously played the game myself.

I recently got the book Benson wrote about MGS2, but I haven't had a chance to start it. If he can make that game's story great in book form, I'll pledge my allegiance to his writing.

Can a book make you love the game it novelizes even more and get you more involved with the story? In the case of Metal Gear Solid by Raymond Benson, the answer is an absolute yes! Benson, who takes the excellent storytelling abilities that he displayed during his run on the James Bond series (for my money, the best author at it since Ian Fleming) and adapts it to the much more complicated story of Solid Snake in the 1998 Konami game for the Playstation 1: Metal Gear Solid.

As a gamer who enjoys video games with stories in them, I have always liked the Metal Gear series above the rest. The point of this story is Solid Snake, an ex-mercenary/military operative (never really clear which), is dragged out of retirement to handle a hostage and ransom situation where the terrorists are threatening to unleash a nuclear device at the world that cannot be seen until it is too late. Sounds pretty simple, right? It isn't. There are plot twists, turns, and even backstory that comes in and takes the character in different and unexpected directions.

Aside from just telling a good story, Raymond Benson's novelization does two really good things to Hideo Kojima's original work that makes this such a terrific read. First thing Benson does is step up the pace tremendously. The Metal Gear Solid game is quite well known for slowing its pace down with a lot of narrative. Some of that is necessary due to the interactive nature of video games, and some of it is just the way Hideo Kojima makes his games. I think it works really well for games, but when I first saw this novelization, I couldn't fathom how Benson would pick up such a notoriously slow-unfolding story and make it interesting as a book. Fortunately, he did and he did a fantastic job at it. This book could sit right next to every other action/thriller novel Raymond Benson has ever written. The pacing of this story is so good that I could see a person getting this book and thoroughly enjoying it without even having played the game. The novel is engrossing, engaging, and a sheer pleasure to read. Feel free to get this book and give it to the Metal Gear Uninitiated and fans of action/adventure novels. They will not be lost and can enjoy the book without playing the game.

The other thing Raymond Benson did that really made the book click for me was place some of the backstory in the book that was added in later installments to the series. Things that would be impossible to go back and place in a 10+ year old video game are added into the story. Things that were added in subsequent video games to give the overall story more depth and character were inserted back into this novelization. For those that know how the overall story ends, reading these backstory passages really clicked and made you think, "yeah! This really is a part of the Metal Gear Universe!"

I really have only one complaint about this book and it isn't a fault of the author's. The physical book is printed on very lightweight, recycled paper. I find the book itself to be a little flimsy and not very durable. For a $7-$8 pocket edition-sized book, I come to expect that lack of physical quality, but for a $10 larger paperback like this one, I tend to expect those books to be made of more durable materials. And if I could make a request: I'd love to get this book on my Kindle. That too would solve the poor physical quality of the book and allow me to take it with me and read it again later on.

That one complaint aside, the book is truly a joy to read. It contains action, suspense, good writing, and as both an isolated story and as a part of a larger saga, the book works on every level. No fan of Raymond Benson, Metal Gear, or just plain good action novels should miss this book.

I think this is a pretty good book. I enjoy the action sequences and the story telling. The only thing I hated was how the author turned Snake which is a hardened , quiet , war veteran into a happy go lucky war machine. I would like to see more detail in the environment and characters. Fans of the series would be aware of what things should look like, but some of could use a refreshment. ANYWAYS I enjoyed the book very much. Definitely worth reading more than once. Has a slower start but so does the game and this book follows the game pretty darn close.

Even though this is just a redo of the hit game, nothing was changed that would undo the story or change it in any way, what they did add was a few eliminates from a few of the other metal gear games that add to the book. For those who are new to the series its a great start to get you into it, and for those who aren't its a good walk down memory lane.

For fans of the game, 'Metal Gear Solid' is an entertaining work that will keep gamers happy. Benson has crafted a fun story that will add to the Metal Gear universe and it's an enjoyable read.

If you are a fan of the game and want something to do when you don't have controller in hand that is Metal Gear related, you will be happy with this book.

**** RECOMMENDED

As a huge fan of the game world and series created around MGS I finally bought this book for a recent plane ride. I've played through the original enough times on the PS2 and Gamecube that I know the story by heart. So I was just expecting some more detail that would have interrupted the flow of the game, but would work in the book. That isn't quite what I got. The Solid Snake in the book does not come off as the same one from the game. While I was looking for maybe more insight into the character that a novel might provide, what I got was a mix of Solid Snake and every generic 80s action star combined. There are logic failures all over and many of the elements from the story in the game have been changed. Not just for dramatic effect, but changed for just no reason I can see. While the book as a whole might be seen as interesting enough for a guilty pleasure read, I can't recommend it to fans of the series. The character developed in the game is done much better than what is done in the book. At no point play through the video game could I have imagined the battle hardened Solid Snake saying 'hunky dory', which he does in the book. Some of the story is verbatim from the game, and some seems elements are drastically changed for no apparent reason. I can see the reason for not wanting to just retell the story from the video game exactly, but this could have been done better. The novelization of Halo is a good example of adding detail without drastically changing the character or the story. But really trying to novelize a video game can't be easy, so I don't fault the author for trying.

I'll admit that I'm a sucker for book adaptations of my favorite video games and Metal Gear Solid is definitely high up on that list, but this book let me down. After the boring prologue, the author tries to keep up with the energy of the video game, but instead fails to inject any sense of intensity or, dare I say, action into the pages. All the dialogue from the video game that has story significance is present and the rest (that the author has taken artistic license with) is comprised of humor that I could not stop rolling my eyes at. It's sad to see this didn't turn out well, especially since Splinter Cell, Halo, Gears of War, and even Resident Evil by a small margin, have fared better. Skip it.